1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system for heating or warming instillation or transfusion liquids.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Intravenous fluid (IV) is commonly used in hospitals, and is important for virtually all medical procedures and applications. Such IV fluid is typically delivered from an IV fluid bag into a blood vessel of a patient. In addition, where necessary, blood is also delivered from blood bags into a blood vessel of a patient. It is desirable to warm the blood or IV fluid to a certain range of temperatures (e.g., between 36.5 and 37 degrees Celsius) to prevent temperature drop in the patient which might lead to hypothermia.
According to a conventional technique for heating or warming an instillation liquid (such as IV fluid) or blood, and injecting the heated liquid, liquid drugs or blood (hereinafter collectively referred to as xe2x80x9cfluidxe2x80x9d) into a blood vessel of a patient, a liquid feed pipe is passed through a warm water tank or a warming pad, or the fluid is passed through disposable bags or cartridges inside large cumbersome warming units to heat the fluid passing through the bags or cartridges up to an appropriate temperature.
These conventional techniques suffer from a number of drawbacks. For example, handling or transferring of the heating device can very troublesome. However, a greater concern is the consistency and quality of the warming. A number of the conventional fluid warming systems do not provide sufficiently good heat transfer to ensure that the fluid is being consistently warmed to the desired temperatures. For example, the liquid feed pipes, bags and cartridges used by these conventional systems are made of material(s), or are positioned in a manner, that do not promote effective heat transfer from the heating element inside the warming unit to the fluid through the feed pipes, bags and cartridges.
Thus, there remains a need to provide a heating device and cartridge that effectively and consistency warms fluid passing therethrough.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a system that effectively warms fluid that is being passed therethrough.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a system that provides improved heat transfer from the heating elements in a heating device to fluid that is passed through a cartridge that is retained inside the heating device.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a disposable cartridge that can be used in a heating device, with the cartridge capable of facilitating effective and consistent heat transfer from the heating device to the fluid that is passed through the cartridge.
The objectives of the present invention are accomplished by providing a system for warming a fluid, the system including a fluid warmer having a housing that retains therein a heating element, and cartridge that is retained inside the housing and which receives heat from the heating element. The cartridge has a rigid plate having a first surface and a second opposing surface, with the plate having a meandering path provided therein. The cartridge also has a sheet of film that covers the first and second surfaces.